Condit ends his silence with display of defiance

August 24, 2001|By James Warren, Washington Bureau.

WASHINGTON — Appearing alternately contrite, evasive and defiant, Rep. Gary Condit late Thursday declared he does not know what happened to Chandra Levy and declined to say whether he had sexual relations with the missing former government intern.

The once little-known conservative Democrat from central California used a national television interview to end an ambiguous public silence, discussing his "close relationship" with Levy and clearly trying to repair the damage to his political career.

"Did you kill Chandra Levy?" ABC's Connie Chung asked early in what surely was a rare, if not unprecedented, inquiry of a national political figure.

"I did not," he responded.

The half-hour interview, which opened with a staccato back-and forth on the essentials of the Levy-Condit relationship, was part of a seemingly belated media counteroffensive by Condit. His media blitz includes several high-profile TV, magazine and newspaper interviews, along with a letter sent to constituents in the district where he may seek re-election next year.

Chung dispensed with the pleasantries and softer questions that tend to open celebrity prime-time confessionals. Instead, she abruptly asked if Condit knew what happened to Levy, was involved with her disappearance, knew anyone who wished her harm and, then, if he had killed her.

In each case, Condit said no. When it came to characterizing their relationship, he defended his refusal to go beyond their having been "close" by citing a "request" in a television appearance by the Levys in which "they did not want to hear about the details of the relationship," he said.

In doing so, he effectively stuck to a suggestively muddy line often associated with President Bill Clinton when he faced questions of infidelity during the 1992 New Hampshire primary; namely, declining to go into any details other than to say he was not perfect and had made mistakes in his life.

"It's exactly what we did with Clinton in New Hampshire," said a one-time Clinton aide who watched Condit. The former aide contended that the public, if not the media, would be far more interested in what Condit said about Levy's disappearance than about any romantic liaison even if they assumed there was one.

But Condit did not appear as rhetorically adroit as the former president, especially when pressed about the claim of Levy's parents that he had conceded an affair to them. There, he claimed he had never lied to the parents and that they might have "misunderstood the conversations" and certain specific responses, such as his denial of having had an affair.

But did that mean he did have an affair, Chung wondered? Condit would not respond directly, repeatedly indicating that he, his family and the Levys were entitled to their privacy. A frustrated Chung concluded that exchange with, "I do not know exactly whether you did have an affair with Chandra Levy or not, because you will not answer that question."

Similarly, Condit may have left close observers of the case, including police, unconvinced with other responses. At times his eyes darted about as he seemed anxious, appearing to rush through some answers.

Those matters include how often Levy visited him at his apartment, the police claim that he did not acknowledge an affair until their third interview of him, his throwing away of a watch case given him by a woman who claims they had an affair and the claim that his lawyers sought to get a flight attendant to sign an affidavit disavowing an affair with Condit.

As for the visits to his apartment by Levy, he would not give any number "out of respect for my family, and out of a request from the Levy family."

As for the police interviews, he said he answered questions forthrightly but would not provide Chung with any details. When asked about the police view that he may have slowed the investigation in its early stages, he denied that vehemently, cutting off Chung and declaring, "I have done everything."

As for ditching the watch box in an Alexandria, Va., trash can, only hours before police were to search his District of Columbia apartment, he said the box was from his Capitol Hill office and he was concerned about "the tabloids" rummaging through his office trash. At the same time, he denied an affair with the woman who gave it to him.

When it came to the affidavit, Condit called that "a lawyer-to-lawyer statement" with which he had nothing to do. He denied any affair with the flight attendant, Anne Marie Smith.

On other topics, notably whether he had essentially instructed his Washington staff to lie by denying any affair with Levy, Condit simply did not answer and sent the interview down a different path.

Levy, 24, was an intern in Washington at the Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared in late April, a few days before her planned return for graduate school commencement at the University of Southern California.